Advocacy and Water Protection in Native California Curriclum

March 2021 - Save California Salmon, the Blue Lake Rancheria, the Yurok Tribe's Visitor Center, KTJUSD’s Indian Education Program, Humboldt County’s Pathmakers Program, Humboldt State University’s (HSU) Native American Studies Department, and the Hoopa High School Water Protector’s Club released the Advocacy and Water Protection in Native California High School Curriculum and Teacher’s Resource Guide. The curriculum, which meets California state standards in science, social studies, health, history and language arts responds to California’s urgent water, climate and educational crises, along with the need for Native American culturally informed education and representation in schools.

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The curriculum features online, classroom, and nature-based learning and responds to reports that Humboldt, Del Norte, and other counties are failing Native students, and that Native youth are facing a mental health crisis due to COVID-19 and the state’s water and climate crises.

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“This curriculum was created for high schools, however all of California’s primary and university students and faculty can benefit from the culturally-informed lessons it provides” explained Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, Department Chair for HSU’s Native American Studies Department. “California faces a water and climate crisis that will only be solved by foregrounding Indigenous management practices. Our restorative environmental management and tribal place-based knowledge are best practices for climate resiliency. If we teach the next generation how to better manage and live with the land. They will become the leaders that can solve our challenges.”